Beer: Reviews & Ratings

5 oz sample poured at the brewery. Poured a deep jet black with a thick tan head that retains. Strong burnt and choclate malts smells permiate. Thick mouthfeel. Strong but balanced smells of chocolate, smoke and some piney hops. This is a great porter, comparible to Founders Porter and Deschutes Black Butte. Receommended. (323 characters)

Appearance: extremely dark brown with no light let through at all. Head is a finger of frothy tan foam; quite attractive.

Smell: rich, roasty aroma with coffee and chocolate elements. There's also a pretty forward earthy, vegetal hop character which is surprisingly well-placed in this brew. Usually it's a distraction, but in this "robust" context it works for me.

Taste: creamy and a little bready; I really like the malt character here. Could they have thrown in a little rye? It would be within character for the brewer. Coffee flavors persist, as well as that vegetal character from the aroma (albeit a little subdued). I like it.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a good carbonation and a really nice creaminess. There's a real velvety smoothness here which I love.

2015-06-0622oz bottle poured into a pair of tulips. 099 G 2103 2014 stamped near the bottom of the bottle. 11.03.14 stamped on the label. Don't know what they mean. But, I expect robust porters to age OK.

Appearance has a nice tan head sitting atop a dark rich ruby brown beer leaving nice lace. Smell of the roasted malt, coffee with a yeasty tang. Taste has the same sense as of the smell with a little dark chocolate thrown in. Mouthfeel is medium with good carbonation. Overall a nice take on a robust porter. (308 characters)

Poured into a Reuben's Brew snifter. Pours a very dark brown, appearing opaque black in the glass, with a thin light brown head that dissipates to a thin ring around the glass with light lacing. Mild aroma of sweet toasted malt, milk chocolate; lightly lactic. Flavor of toasted, lightly charred malt, cocoa, light coffee, flavor drops off to a drier, mild charred malt flavor with some light grassy hop bitterness. Medium bodied. A rather dry, charred malt porter instead of the sweeter mild stout of the aroma. The malt body is not quite as substantial as I would hope for the strong char component. I enjoyed this and liked the roastiness, but would have liked a bit more balance. (683 characters)

Solid porter with plenty of coffee and a sweet smoky tinge to it, dark chocolate comes out in the finish. Light on the malt - most of the character is coming from the roasting, not the malt itself. Very lightly hopped, more of a grassy or hay character than the typical PacNW beer's citrus or piney hops. Not much head at all (poured flat essentially), but still has a decent amount of carbonation so it is not cloying. (422 characters)

I ama anew at drinking Porter's this is my third one so take this with a bit of salt but I was not at all impressed here. The finish disappeared immediately. The smell started out right but it never even started after that. better than a Miller Light but that is about I can say about this one....I will try and educate myself and try some more Porters but it was not as good as the other two I had in Seattle recently. (419 characters)

Pours nearly a layer of tan head over a pitch liquid that has dark brown edgings when held to light. Smells chocolate, burnt grains, worty, nutty, beefy. Pretzels, clean mild alcohol sting, malted chocolate shake. Tastes much the same. There is something not right about this beer. The burnt character is just too strong and very off putting. I dumped this one. Medium-thick in the mouth and mild carbonation. (409 characters)